| · A long overdue return to form from the former, future Mrs. Evan Dando.
As a member of Boston’s seminal college rockers The Blakes Babies, Juliana Hatfield is probably best remembered for her biting cry of "You’re a weak man/ you’re a suckling lamb," from their relationship ender "I’m Not Your Mother." When she went solo, her saccharine delivery of acid-tongued sentiment was almost always overshadowed by her not so secret affection for Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando. Whether under her own name or the moniker of The Juliana Hatfield Three, her best stuff usually involved anger, despair and regret. As the years passed she continued to make records and faded further and further from the limelight until the release of two full lengths in 2000 went almost unnoticed. Most recently, her appearance alongside Heidi Gluck in the all girl outfit Some Girls was similarly disappointing. Yet with In Exile Deo she puts the last lacklustre decade to bed.
Album opener "Get In Line," with its simple, grinding riff and train-track beat easily sets the tone. Her vocals are still as sweet as ever, but age has brought a comfort and restraint that adds a potent air of ease to the whole album. Her vocal melodies are vibrantly confident and Hatfield shows her knack for penning singalong choruses. Lyrically, she stays close to her lovelorn roots and in doing so has kept things simple and engaging. In the past, if she wasn’t rocking I wasn’t listening, but now when she slows down, as on the lush, country-tinged "Forever," it’s because it suits the song, not because the album needs a token slow jam. Hatfield does veer dangerously close to MOR radio rock with "Some Rainy Sunday," a track that gives Sheryl Crow a run for her money, but listen after listen In Exile Deo proves itself a consistent and charming pop-rock outing.
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